Western Indemnity Co. v. Leonard

248 S.W. 655
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMarch 9, 1923
DocketNo. 331-3690
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 248 S.W. 655 (Western Indemnity Co. v. Leonard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western Indemnity Co. v. Leonard, 248 S.W. 655 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1923).

Opinion

HAMILTON, J.

Prom a judgment of the district court of Harris county, sustaining an award of compensation made by the Industrial Accident Board, under the Texas Workmen’s Compensation Act (Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1918, arts. 5246 — 1 to 5246 — 91), against the Western Indemnity Company, and in favor of Mrs. Effie V. Leonard, for the death of her husband, James Leonard, an employs of the Universal Shipbuilding Company, a “subscriber” as defined in the Workmen’s Compensation Act, carrying a policy of insurance with the indemnity company, an appeal was prosecuted by the Western Indemnity Company to the Court of Civil Appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the trial court. 231 S. W. 1101. At the date of his injury Leonard was a resident of Houston, Tex. The case was submitted to the court on an agreed statement of facts, from which we quote:

“It is also agreed that due to the fact that the plant of the Universal Shipbuilding Company was several miles distant from the city of Houston, and also to the fact that transportation facilities to such plant were limited, and due to the lack of housing facilities, and to the fact that the time and place there''was a scarcity of skilled and experienced labor, it became necessary to provide transportation for the employes of Universal Shipbuilding Company engaged in the work of shipbuilding at its plant in question, and said transportation was in fact provided for said employes to carry them from the Southern Pacific (Grand Central Station) in the eity of Houston to said shipbuilding plant, and from said plant on the return trip to said station. At the time of the injuries sustained by said James Leonard, above mentioned, and for a considerable period prior thereto, the transportation of the employés to and from their work was without cost to said employés, the same being carried forward into the cost of building the ships, and the right to have the transportation cost paid, in addition to the daily wage, became and was a part of the contract of employment between the em-ployés, including the said James Leonard and the said Universal Shipbuilding Company. The train upon which said employés were carried to and from their work was operated on a certain fixed schedule, and was not a train exclusively for such employés, but employés of other industries were carried to and from their work thereon, and at the same charge per man. In the case, however, of the shipbuilding em-ployés at the time of the injuries to James Leonard, and for some time prior thereto, the commutation tickets used for the purpose were furnished to its employés by the Universal Shipbuilding Company at its shipyard, said tickets being regularly issued by the federal Railroad Administration, and being paid for to said Railroad Administration by Universal Shipbuilding Company in accordance with the arrangements theretofore made to relieve the em-ployés of the cost of said transportation. The ships were being built by said Universal Shipbuilding Company on a basis of cost plus a percentage computed thereupon as profit, and the additional expense of transporting the men to and from their work was under authority of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, acting for the United States government, included as a part of the cost of building the ships. The trains upon which the employés in question rode, and the tracks upon which they were operated, were in no sense under the control of the Universal Shipbuilding Company, but were under the control of, and operated by, the United States Federal Administration of Railroads, and each and every employé who rode upon such train or trains, thereby became a passenger and occupied the relation of passenger to the federal Administration of Railroads as carrier.”

It was also agreed that the Macy Wage Award, a decision, by the Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board, as to wages, hours, and other conditions of laborers, including their transportation to and from shipyards, was in effect, and had been adopted by the Universal Shipbuilding Company, and that the transportation actually furnished was furnished to the employés of the shipyard, including Leonard, “by reason of the facts above set forth, and by reason of the contract and agreement between such Universal Shipbuilding Company and its employes, and by reason of the Macy Award,” referred to above. It was further agreed that—

“On or about said October 29, 1918, the said James Leonard boarded said train at Houston, Tex., for the purpose of proceeding to the plant of said shipbuilding company, which was several miles distant, and performing his daily duties at such plant. That in due course said train reached the plant of said shipbuilding company, and the said James Leonard, together with several hundreds of the other employés of said shipbuilding company, got off said train and started toward the entrance gate of said shipbuilding company, in order to begin the daily work. That after leaving said train, and before the reaching of said entrance gate, but while yet on the railroad right of way, the said James Leonard and other employés with and around him, were notified by said shipbuilding company by means of a signal used for that purpose that no work would be performed on that day, which signal was given by reason of the fact that at that time it was raining. That the said James [657]*657Leonard immediately turned around and started back to said train, and, in order to board said train in order to return to Houston, Tex., jumped across a ditch, between Mm and said train, and that in so doing the said .James Leonard received thq injuries from which he subsequently died.”

All other facts essential to the recovery of defendant in error were agreed upon, if the deceased, James Leonard, sustained the injuries resulting in his death in the course of his employment. Plaintiff in error assigned as error the holding of the courts below, that, under the agreed facts, James Leonard,- at the time of the injuries in question, was engaged in the course of his employment within the meaning and legal effect of the Texas .Workmen’s Compensation Act. The term “injury sustained in the course of employment” as used in this act—

“shall include all injuries of every kind and character having to do with and originating in the work, business, trade or profession of the employer received by an employé while engaged in or about the furtherance of the affairs or business of his employer whether upon the employer’s premises or elsewhere.” Chapter 103, pt. 4, § 1, p. 292, General Laws of Texas, Thirty-Fifth Legislature, Regular Session (article 5246 — 82).

It is agreed, as indicated above, that the relation of employer and employé existed between the Universal Shipbuilding Company and Leonard on the day of his injury.

James Leonard, deceased, went aboard the train at Houston on the morning of his death in the performance of a duty under his contract.

The “transportation of the employés to and from their work was without cost to said em-ployés, the same being carried forward into the transportation cost paid, in addition to the, daily wage became and was a part of the contract of employment between the employés, including the said James Leonard and the Universal Shipbuilding company.”

Transportation being a part of his contract of employment, it is clear to us that he was in the employment of the Universal Shipbuilding Company from the time he left Houston until he returned, using the transportation provided both ways. When he reached the plant — the place of leaving the train — and got off the train, there was no break of employment.

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Bluebook (online)
248 S.W. 655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-indemnity-co-v-leonard-texcommnapp-1923.